February is recognized as Black Heritage Month in Guelph, to commemorate past and present accomplishments within the Black community and set sights on our bright future ahead. As established by the Guelph Black Heritage Society, Black Heritage Month continues to acknowledge the resilience and bravery of those who came before us, while recognizing that Black history and experiences are much more than the narrative of enslavement. Over the next month, students in all of our Wellington Catholic DSB classrooms will be learning about Black Canadian History. Included among the plethora of influential Black Canadians, are the following 28 individuals. Their stories are of some of the many Black activists, leaders and historical figures in Canada from pre-confederation to the present day that students will be learning about.
- Richard Pierpoint was an early leader in Canada’s Black community. Taken from West Africa as a teenager and sold into slavery, Pierpoint regained his freedom during the American Revolution. He settled in Niagara, Upper Canada, and attempted to live communally with other Black Canadians. In the War of 1812, he petitioned for an all-Black unit to fight for the British. His legacy is that of a leader in the early Black Canadian community who fought and petitioned for causes important to himself, his community and to Canada as a whole. His petitions provide the picture of a man taken from his home and enslaved as a teenager, who fought for his freedom in two wars and who worked to build a Black community amid prejudice and discrimination.
- Josiah Henson, spiritual leader, author, founder of the Black community settlement at Dawn, Canada West Born enslaved, Henson escaped to Upper Canada in 1830. He founded the Dawn Settlement near Dresden, Upper Canada, for American fugitives from enslavement.
- Anderson Ruffin Abbott was the first Canadian-born Black person to graduate from medical school. He served the Union army as a civilian surgeon during the American Civil War.
- Gordan Shadrach, teacher and artist, has been exhibited in solo and group art shows across North America. Gordon Shadrach has had a lifelong fascination with the semiotics of clothing and its impact on culture. In particular, his interest lies in the intersection and codification of race and fashion. These codes impact the way we navigate through spaces and influence how people associate with one another. Shadrach’s portraits of Black men utilize fashion—contemporary or historical dress—in order to create narratives which pull viewers in to explore the biases embedded in North American culture.
- Donald Willard Moore was a community leader and civil rights activist who fought to change Canada’s exclusionary immigration laws. Moore was the recipient of a number of awards for his significant contributions to the West Indian community and to Canadian society, including the City of Toronto Award of Merit (1982), the Ontario Bicentennial Medal (1984), the Harry Jerome Award of Merit (1984), the Barbados Service Medal (1986), the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship award (1987), the Order of Ontario (1988), and the Order of Canada (1990).
- Jean Augustine is the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons. She was elected in the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 1993 and sat in Parliament until 2006. During this time, she served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Minister of State and Deputy Speaker.
- Viola Desmond built a career and business as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture. In 1946, Viola Desmond challenged racial discrimination when she refused to leave the segregated Whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Viola Desmond was arrested, jailed overnight and convicted without legal representation for an obscure tax offence as a result. Despite the efforts of the Nova Scotian Black community to assist her appeal, Viola Desmond was unable to remove the charges against her and went unpardoned in her lifetime. Desmond’s courageous refusal to accept an act of racial discrimination provided inspiration to later generations of Black persons in Nova Scotia and in the rest of Canada. In 2010, Lieutenant-Governor Mayann Francis issued Desmond a free pardon. In December 2016, the Bank of Canada announced that Viola Desmond would be the first Canadian woman to be featured by herself on the face of a banknote — the $10 note released on 19 November 2018. Viola Desmond was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government in 2018.
- Sparked by incidents of racial discrimination, Carrie Best became a civil rights activist. Co-founder of The Clarion, one of the first newspapers in Nova Scotia owned and published by Black Canadians, she used the platform to advocate for Black rights. As editor, she publicly supported Viola Desmond in her case against the Roseland Theatre. Best used her voice in radio and print to bring positive change to society in Nova Scotia and Canada.
- Stanley Grizzle had an illustrious career as a railway porter, soldier, civil servant, citizenship judge and activist for the rights of Black Canadians.
- Afua Cooper is considered one of the most influential and pioneering voices in the Canadian dub poetry and spoken word movement. Her poems are published in numerous regional, national and international journals and anthologies. Afua Cooper also has CDs of her performances that make her work well known to the global community. In addition to her renown as a performance artist, she is an internationally-ranked historian. She has taught Caribbean cultural studies, history, women's studies and Black studies at Ryerson and York universities, at the University of Toronto and at Dalhousie University.
- Eugenia Duodu is a Toronto-based academic, mentor and CEO of Visions of Science Network for Learning, a STEM-based organization that runs educational programs for low-income youth in the GTA. Her love of science and volunteer work came together after volunteering for Visions of Science at a science fair during the studies at University of Toronto. By the time she finished her PhD in Chemistry, Duodu went from being running the organization part-time, to handling all aspects of the organization full-time as CEO. As recently as 2017, Duodu spoke at the annual TEDxYouth Conference in Toronto about her pursuit of science as a black woman in STEM. She continues to work in Toronto with various community partners to engage and encourage youth to explore opportunities in STEM. Eugenia Duodu is the CEO of Visions of Science Network for Learning, a charitable organization that empowers youth from low-income communities through meaningful engagement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). She devotes her time to community and global outreach initiatives and participates in various boards, organizations, and councils. She is an advocate for education and creating equitable opportunities for youth to achieve their full potential.
- Bromley Armstrong was a pivotal figure in the early anti-discrimination campaigns in Ontario that led to Canada’s first anti-discrimination laws. A self-described “blood and guts” ally of the working poor, Armstrong demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the trade union movement and the battle against disadvantage and discrimination. For more than six decades, Armstrong worked for human rights, helping to generate civic and government support for racial equality and advocating for human rights reforms in public policy.
- Calvin Ruck took leading roles in the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the NS Association of Social Workers, and the Black Cultural Society of Nova Scotia. He was the third Black Canadian appointed to the Senate.
- Dudley Laws was called the ‘Voice of the Voiceless‘ and his impact in Canadian history can never be forgotten. The Jamaican immigrant moved to Canada in 1965. After seeing how Afro-Canadians were treated by Toronto Police during the 1960s and 1970s, he started participating in protests with the goal of helping to improve police relations. He was fearless in his pursuit of tackling racism.
- Charles Daniels historically fought the Sherman Grand following an act of discrimination after he was denied entry to the theatre. Daniels’ quest to seek justice made headlines across Alberta and is the earliest known civil rights civil rights case recorded in Western Canada. His fight to be treated like a human being and to be given the right to enjoy life in the same was his white counterparts did, took courage and determination in the face of great opposition.
- Rosemary Brown was Canada's first Black female member of a provincial legislature and the first woman to run for leadership of a federal political party.
- George Elliott Clarke, Canada’s 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-2017), wrote a poem about Gloria Baylis’ experience with racism when she applied for a job as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and her victory when she took the matter to court.
- Elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990, Zanana Akande was appointed Minister of Community and Social Services, thus becoming the first Black woman to hold a cabinet position in Canada. During her term in office she was a determined advocate for Employment Equity. She also served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier where was responsible for the implementation of “Jobs Ontario Youth”, providing thousands of jobs to youth across Ontario for four consecutive summers.
- janaya khan is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto and has become a leading voice in the global crusade demanding social transformation, justice, and equality. khan is a Black, queer, gender-nonconforming activist, staunch Afrofuturist, boxer, and social-justice educator. Khan’s dedication and bold approach to social justice work has created opportunities to contribute to academic and frontline community dialogue engaging audiences on the global impacts of the Black Lives Matter movement. An accomplished lecturer and author, their writings have been featured in The Feminist Wire, The Root, Huffington Post Black Voices, and Al Jazeera.
- You may better recognize women’s hockey pioneer Angela James by her nickname, the “Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey.” James earned the moniker after scoring a stunning 50 goals and 73 points in just 14 games during a season at Seneca College. Despite missing the Olympics – she was controversially cut from the first women’s team in 1998 – James still made an international mark during her career, helping lead Canada to gold four times at the Women’s World Championship. James retired from play in 2000 and moved on to coaching. In 2010, James became one of the first two women, the first openly gay player and only the second Black athlete ever to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
- Mary Ann Shadd was the first Black female newspaper publisher in Canada. Shadd founded and edited The Provincial Freeman. She also established a racially integrated school for Black refugees in Windsor, Canada West. She played an important role in giving Black people a voice and advocating for women’s rights. In 1994, Shadd was designated a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada.
- HARRIET TUBMAN escaped from enslavement in the southern United States and went on to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. She led numerous enslaved persons to freedom in the “free” Northern states and Canada through the Underground Railroad — a secret network of routes and safe houses that helped people escape enslavement.
- Ingrid Waldron authored a book entitled, There’s Something in the Water, based on her years-long research on the subject of environmental racism. The book won global critical acclaim. Dr. Waldron is the recipient of many awards for her pioneering research in the area of black and Indigenous mental health and environmental racism.
- As an Olympian, Phylicia George has represented Canada all over the world. The Scarborough-born athlete first started running hurdles when she was 15 years old after falling in love with running and competing while racing her dad in parking lots. She first represented Canadians on an international stage at the 2012 Olympics in London, where she finished sixth in the hurdles event and achieved a personal best time. Although she had to battle through injuries, George continued to compete, appearing at both the Pan Am Games in Toronto and the 2016 Rio Olympics. But an Olympic medal eluded her—until PyeongChang. In 2018, George became the first Black Canadian woman to compete in both the summer and winter games when she teamed up with champion bobsledder Kaillie Humphries. The duo won bronze at the women’s bobsleigh final at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
- An influential Black Canadian activist, Anne Cools served four months in jail for her role in the Sir George Williams Affair, for which she was pardoned in 1981. She founded Women in Transition, one of Canada’s first shelters for female victims of violence. She also served on the National Parole Board of Canada. In 1984, she became the first Black Canadian to be named to the Senate. She served as a Liberal, Conservative and independent senator for more than 30 years, and was known as the Dean of the Senate for her knowledge of parliamentary history and procedure.
- Portia White was the first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim. She was considered one of the best classical singers of the 20th century. Her voice was described by one critic as “a gift from heaven.” She was often compared to the celebrated African American contralto Marian Anderson. The Nova Scotia Talent Trust was established in 1944 specifically to enable White to concentrate on her professional career. She was named a “person of national historic significance” by the Government of Canada in 1995.
- William Peyton Hubbard was Toronto’s first Black elected official, serving as alderman (1894–1903, 1913) and controller (1898–1908), and as acting mayor periodically. A democratic reformer, he campaigned to make the city’s powerful Board of Control an elected body. Hubbard was also a leading figure in the push for public ownership of hydroelectric power, contributing to the establishment of the Toronto Hydro-Electric System.
- Measha Brueggergosman is a Canadian soprano who performs both as an opera singer and concert artist. She has performed internationally and won numerous awards.